Hybrid (46 page)

The Hybrid stepped in front of the stunned women and dramatically dragged its staff in a line in front of them and the Red Cross tent, daring the creatures to cross. He swung the staff with blinding speed, performing complicated motions that were only a blur to human eyes. The routine ended, and he adopted an aggressive combat stance, staff ready to strike. The staff seemed to whine and murmur in anticipation of the coming battle.

“My God, Erik!” Margaret Pendelton whispered, looking up at her ex-husband. “What happened to you?”

Erik glanced back at the two women, his aqua-blue eyes piercing the darkness.
Go, now.
The two words roared in both of their heads. Shanda dragged a reluctant Margaret back into a crowd of armed soldiers.

“Hold your fire!” Major Ross ordered as he calmed the nervous soldiers whose fingers had all found the triggers of their rifles and pistols. “The kid said he's here to do our job for us; let's give him a chance.” Ross peered at the massive silver being in awe as it continued to glare at the other two creatures. “What in the hell happened to him?” he wondered aloud.

The two creatures had recovered from their shock. They were so focused on their destruction that they failed to notice the Hybrid who had dropped from the trees directly outside the encampment. The Seelak leapt forward, its arms reached out in an attempt to grasp its silver foe. The Hybrid responded with an overhead swing of his staff. The weapon seemed to murmur with glee as it was smashed upon the Seelak's black-armored shoulder. The Hybrid didn't pause after that strike; he swung the staff laterally in a 360-degree sweep and swept the stunned Seelak's legs out from under it. The creature fell back, landing flat on its back. The Hybrid brought his staff down, aimed directly at the creature's head. The Seelak quickly rolled its body sideways, barely avoiding the blow that shattered the pavement where its head was a fraction of a second earlier.

The silver Hybrid kept attacking, the Sentient Staff impacting against black-armored hide, each blow sounding like a thunderous clash of metal upon metal, spraying sparks upon both combatants. Erik had succeeded in driving the Seelak back away from the crowd and the tent in which the children were being kept.

The felenoid sprang from its position, covering nearly thirty feet with its leap. It had waited until the Hybrid was facing away from it before it attacked. Yet somehow, the Hybrid sensed the oncoming threat and executed a one-handed cartwheel, allowing the cat-like creature to sail by him harmlessly, and slammed his staff against the massive creature's flanks as it passed.

The cat landed and swung around swiftly to face the Hybrid again. It leapt again quickly and collided with the silver warrior. The impact threw the Hybrid back, and the staff fell from his hand as he grappled with the much larger creature. The felenoid raked its claws across the Hybrid's massive chest, causing an ear-shattering squeal as the claws scraped against metallic flesh. The Hybrid landed a massive blow into the creature's jaw, lifting the great cat beast off the ground. The creature recovered quickly and attacked again, using its fifteen-foot tail like a great whip. The Hybrid blocked each strike with his forearms, frustrating the beast.

Erik and the felenoid charged into each other, both roaring battle cries. Erik pummeled the creature with both hands and feet, while absorbing dreadful blows from the creature's dinner plate-sized paws. There was no finesse in this combat, each participant simply lashed out with mindless fury; the felenoid, driven by its genetic coding, and the Hybrid, Erik Knight, seeking vengeance for the abduction of his offspring. The large cat tried again to pounce on its smaller opponent. Though smaller, the Hybrid possessed greater strength and was able to catch his opponent in midair. He lifted the twenty-foot feline over his head and tossed it like a rag doll into the concrete.

From the darkness came a loud groan. A trash dumpster flew toward both combatants, missing the felenoid, and landing directly on top of the Hybrid with a sickening crunch of collapsing metal. Everyone was silent, staring at the shattered hulk of metal. Both creatures approached the ruined dumpster and stared quietly. From inside the wreckage there came a loud roar of rage. A silvery fist blew through the wreckage and accompanied the roar. The Hybrid punched and clawed his way out of the battered hulk to face his opponents again. There was, however, a gaping wound across its chest that was leaking a dark red fluid. He ripped a piece of scrap metal from the wreck and hurled it back at the creatures, then another and another, causing both creatures to reluctantly give ground.

Erik did the unexpected and leapt between both creatures, raining blow upon blow upon both startled monsters. Both the Hybrid's hands and feet were lethal weapons—a combination of human combat excellence combined with all the generations of enhanced Esper warrior training. The creatures, however, fought back savagely. They, too, were enhanced with the skills of their ancestry. After thousands of years, the Esper-Seelak War was reaching its final, yet to be determined, conclusion.

The combatants separated again, the Hybrid leapt backwards an amazing fifteen feet into the air while executing several somersaults and landing gracefully several meters away from his opponents. Each warrior's body was now littered with several lacerations. There were several discolorations on Erik's forearms where he had blocked the whip like attacks of the felenoid cat creature.

Erik saw his staff lying on the ground several feet away from him. With a simple gesture of his outstretched hand, the liquid metal object leapt from the ground and nestled itself in his outstretched palm. His hands closed around the weapon and it gave off an eerie moan.

Shanda peered over at Alissa who was watching the battle with great intent. She made her way over to the young waitress. “Can you tell what's going on in their heads?”

“The Seelak were somewhat surprised, but they have been programmed to attack and kill Espers; their minds and instincts are on total automatic. They are, however, continually being fed by the fear from those around them. It makes them that much harder to destroy.”

“And Erik?” Shanda whispered intently.

“He is himself; he has adapted to the changes and his essence has survived the mutation of his body. He is one being with two sets of memories.” She peered up at her. “Perhaps this is what was intended all along.”

Shanda focused her telepathy on her lover, straining to find the right frequency that would let her into his mind. After a few seconds, she was able to read him, feel what he was feeling, and see what he was seeing. She could feel his unbridled rage toward his opponents, a desire for vengeance that burned like a white-hot fire, but that rage was over-ridden by an almost mystical sense of control, a feeling she had shared with him earlier in their prior link, but was now much more enhanced and overwhelming.

The three adversaries collided again. The Seelak warrior rushed into Erik, absorbing dreadful blows from his staff, but it still moved in. With incredible speed, it swung its tensile tail, thrashing it across Erik's torso. The sound of the impact rang of like a gunshot. Erik fell back, bleeding from the gaping wound across his stomach. Erik responded by smashing the end of his staff down upon the creature's black-armored shoulder. There was a sickening crunch as the staff shattered the armor covering.

The Seelak avoided the follow-up blow and used its tail again, but this time Erik managed to grab the appendage with his free hand. He yanked on the creature's tail mightily, lifting the black-armored creature off the ground. Erik utilized this momentum and begun swinging his larger opponent like a bola. He spun himself around five times, using the Seelak's own mass to increase the force of each spin. On his final rotation, he let out a cry and put all of his strength into hurling the creature into the air with as much force as he possibly could. The Seelak literally flew over fifty feet, smashing through an armored convoy truck and crushing the parked car that it landed on.

Erik pressed his attack on his other adversary; he leapt high into the air and brought his staff down hard upon the felenoid who had closed in for another attack. The beast fell back before Erik's fury, but kept swinging its razor-sharp claws and threatened to bite him in two with every snap of its powerful jaws. Erik glanced over to where the Seelak was. It still had not moved from its place on the crushed automobile. He did notice a small river of fluorescent blue dripping onto the pavement.

Erik decided at that moment that the Seelak was no longer an immediate threat. He had to destroy the felenoid now, before its partner recovered. He knew he couldn't finish off the Seelak warrior just yet, because as soon as he took his eye off the cat, it would pounce upon him again with tooth and claw, as well as its whip-like tail. Erik's forearms were already battered from deflecting the creature's earlier blows. The felenoid sensed that its partner was out of action. It attacked ferociously, as any animal would when threatened. Erik was suddenly put on the defensive as the large creature attacked with incredible strength and speed. Erik was barely able to deflect the blows that seemed to be coming at him continuously. Grudgingly, he was forced to give ground, being driven back from the stunned Seelak with each fresh attack.

Erik timed a counterstrike and landed a quick thrust into the creature's ribs. The cat responded by leaping directly on top of him, forcing him down into the pavement, and knocking his staff away from him again. The weapon shrieked at the separation from its owner, and laid out of reach, murmuring and buzzing its annoyance like an angry wasp. The beast now sat on top of him, its large hindquarters pinning his legs underneath the cat with their sheer bulk and weight.

Erik had to use both of his hands to keep the gaping maw from snapping his head off. As he struggled with the cat's jaws, it was using its forepaws to rip into his unprotected chest and shoulders. Erik felt his metallic flesh start to tear under the cat's great claws.

With one great effort, he managed to free his left leg. He slammed his knee into the felenoid's side with all of his strength and was rewarded with the sound of snapping bone. The creature yelped in pain as Erik landed another blow to the same area.

Erik was able to release his right arm from the cat's large jaws now that the beast was distracted. He brought the arm over to his side as far as it would reach, and then spun his torso, propelling the arm into a thunderous right hook that landed squarely on the side of the creature's head. The felenoid howled in distress as it pushed itself off of him, nearly crushing him with its great weight. The large claws scraped against his flesh, and the creature pulled away from the force of the blow.

Erik stood, blood flowing from dozens of deep gashes and puncture wounds. The felenoid was dazed, shaking its head, and limping badly on its left side. Erik could see three ribs protruding through its midnight black skin from where he had delivered the blows with his leg. He also noticed a steady trickle of purple fluid from the great beast's nostrils. He knew that he had managed to puncture a lung with his strikes. Something inside him urged him to press the attack. He somehow knew that the creatures could feed off the humans witnessing the conflict. He had to strike a killing blow before it could heal itself or get any stronger.

Thoughts precipitated action. The Hybrid closed his eyes briefly, picturing a more lethal weapon, an edged weapon. He reached out his hand and felt something settle into his grasp and take shape in his hand. He looked down at the large two-handed broadsword now nestled in his grip. He brought both hands to bear on his newly formed weapon and rushed his wounded foe.

The cat swung a large paw at his head in an attempt to decapitate him. The Hybrid responded by swinging the sword directly into the limb's path. The paw severed, the claws falling away and rolling to a stop several feet from the felenoid. The creature howled in agony as it fell over, losing its balance. Erik raised the sword and drove it point-first into the area where he had guessed the heart to be located. The silver blade sang an eerie harmonic as it effortlessly pierced the dark tough hide and severed bone and sinew. Erik pulled the blade free, ripping the side of the felenoid open during the process, and was covered in purple ichor hemorrhaging from the mortal wound. Blood and entrails spilt from its body and littered the pavement. The creature whimpered in its agony.

The Hybrid raised its silver blade and let loose one final blow, the blade severed the creature's spinal cord and separated its head from its torso. The jaws in the powerful head snapped once, then again as the fiery green light faded from its eyes. The decapitated torso flinched and fidgeted for several seconds before it, too, yielded to eternal silence. The head and corpse began to sizzle and bubble. The once powerful body began to liquefy and dissolve into nothingness. Soon, the only evidence that the creature was there at all was a large wet spot on the pavement and several traces of spilt blood from its earlier wounds.

Erik spun toward the fallen Seelak. The creature slowly rose from the wrecked automobile. Erik raised his sword in readiness and approached the Seelak. The creature's black-armored exoskeleton was cracked and broken in several places. It turned and saw the approaching Esper and hissed a savage cry of fury. Erik was also severely injured; his limbs ached and his torso was on fire from several wounds. He knew that his human body would have expired long ago, even as enhanced as he was upon leaving the hospital. Alissa had told the truth: he would not have survived this type of combat without undergoing the change.

It happened as Erik was only ten feet from his opponent. He felt an overpowering sense of dark bioelectric energy. He was not afraid, only curious. The Seelak began to tense and, as if by magic, the hideous damage he had undergone began to heal. The gaping holes in its armor regenerated. The areas that had been crushed by the Sentient Staff re-fused together.

Erik watched in silent awe as the once crippled Seelak warrior restored itself. He instinctively knew that the creature had been feeding on the fear generated by the spectators during his fight with the felenoid. It had gathered enough emotional energy to completely regenerate itself.